Corporate Social Responsibility:the Idea And System

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has aroused increasingly concern in current Chinese society, especially against the background of global financial crisis, and has been regarded as an essential measure to cope with various challenges both in theoretical and business circles. Only if enterprises establish awareness of responsibility and incorporate their social responsibilities into their business strategies initiatively, will they meet the expectation of the public, propel the global economy recovery and stable development, and guarantee the harmonious co-existence between enterprises and society. In his speech in Cambridge University, Premier Wen Jiabao points out:"enterprises should take up social responsibilities, and in entrepreneurs there should flow the blood of morality." Therefore, the study of CSR has undoubtedly become a trend in the modern world, and every country, no matter which economic systems it adopts, can’t avoid this issue.This thesis explores issues concerning CSR both in theory and practice mainly including the definition, establishment, theoretical tools, content, institutional improvement and security mechanism of CSR.In chapter one, the thesis firstly gives the definition of CSR from two perspectives---enterprise ethics and responsibility ethics. The issues involved in CSR such as how to define CSR constitute main content of chapter one. From the perspective of enterprise ethics, the definition emphasizes the objects and contents of CSR. In terms of responsibility ethics, the definition centers on the establishment of CSR and how to be in charge of it. Based on the above analyses, the author defines CSR in an all-round way. The answers to the above four questions constitute the major structure and content of this chapter.Chapter two mainly deals with the establishment of CSR in terms of theory and practice. Through the discussion of two analytical tools of CSR theory---stakeholder theory and enterprise citizenship ethics theory, the thesis provides guidelines for the implement of CSR on the practical level.Chapter three investigates the objects of CSR and related concerns based on the stakeholder theory. Three major categories are discussed in this chapter:first, the internal responsibility concerning stakeholders and employees; second, market responsibility respecting cooperation partners and consumers; thirdly, public responsibility regarding government and the masses.Chapter four explores the institutional improvements and support organization of CSR according to the corporate citizenship theory. The research emphasis of this chapter is on the guarantee of CSR’s implement. Institutional improvements are studies from two aspects:enterprises should strengthen the cultivation of quality internally and reinforce the formulation of various constraint rules. CSR also needs support organization afterwards which mainly includes the construction of institutional mechanisms such as evaluation, monitoring, and punishment.CSR is a systematic issue which needs studying from multi-disciplines and multi-perspectives. With the dramatic development of the time, only if CSR changes with the dramatic development of the modern society, can it better cater to the changing human society.